Jordan, pros and cons

All is set for the Jordanian elections. Fayez Tarawneh’s government resigned, the parliament was dissolved, and a new governemnt headed by Abdullah al-Nassour will monitor the elections in a few months time. It doesn’t mean that Jordan’s problems are over - it mostly means that the problems will be seen from a different point of view. Those who are pessimistic about Jordan often ignore the plus and cons of the Kingdom. First of all, there are economic pressures that have never been felt by any poor Arab country. For instance, we can look at the price hike in oil and gas. King Abdullah II explained many times that the increase is due to the interruption of gas import from Sinai. Jordan does not possess any oil resources. It recently discovered uranium and want to possess nuclear power in order to overcome the “oil bill” issue. Nuclear power would also allow the desalination of sea water. Israel is facing this approach with an undeclared war as Netanyahu’s government has its own reasons to object the Jordanian peaceful nuclear programme. Is Israel’s objection really to the nuclear programme? Or does it reject the idea that Jordan could be able to overcome its economic crisis so it wouldn’t get back to the “alternative homeland” project? Jordan is a poor country that needs aid, but it is still rich with its human resource. That’s what the Jordanian king is aware of, more than others. That’s why he talks about the human resources, the value of the Jordanian citizen and the importance of education. At the same time, King Abdullah II doesn't ignore the need for thousands of job opportunities for the youth. He considers this as a main challenge for Jordan and for Arab countries. The complicated regional situation and Jordan’s presence on the borders with Palestine, Syria and Iraq as well as its being a defence line for all the Gulf countries is an aspect of the Kingdom that is not favourable. There’s no need to go into the details of describing the Palestinian dilemma, exacerbated by the extremist Israeli government only seeking to spread the occupation in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. There is no need to go through what happened in Iraq as Iran is trying to make use of the sectarian rift to serve its extremely dangerous regional project. There is no need to go through the Syrian crisis and its mazes which is the crisis of an entity and a regime... a crisis that will have an impact on the future of the whole Middle East. There is no need to say how Jordan's suffered with all the desperate Syrian refugees flooding the territory. This is one side of the picture... the side that covers the positive, topped up by the people’s ability to know where its real assets are, instead of falling into the trap of hollow slogans. More than twenty months ago the Jordanians protested. No one was killed... the only victim was a citizen who died of a heart attack. The Jordanian authority’s way of dealing with the protests showed that the Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t want reforms - it wants the right moment to take over. Time revealed what the Brotherhood really wants. Last week's demonstrations uncovered their real dimensions. They called for a huge demonstration, but only 8000 participated. The place where the protesters gathered couldn’t contain more than that... but that’s not important.. What is important is that Jordanians are now convinced there is no way back from reforms and the election are sure coming... and that the other parties (not the Brotherhood) have to rearrange themselves in order to prove themselves.... What many people don't know is that the Brotherhood is trying to penetrate the east Jordan - which has not been extremely successful as the campaigns are only bullying the King. Despite the huge amount of fabrications and the potentials used by foreign bodies, including Iran, Jordanians remained faithful to Jordan. Joining the electoral lists against the Brotherhood’s will was a strong response from the Jordanians. There’s no doubt that Palestinians remembered what happened to the Palestinians of Iraq and Syria, and even those of the West Bank. What is also sure is that they didn’t forget what could happen to the Palestinians if Hamas takes the power. Gaza is a screaming example of the continuous Palestinian tragedy... It’s too early to tell if Jordan overcame its crisis, but the kingdom passed through the Arab Spring and came out more alive. Jordanians should be proud of their country and spend their lives defending it instead of feeling low before the Brotherhood, or those who want to liberate Palestine from the sea to the river starting from Amman, or even those who talk about corruption day and night just to avoid the facts. The fact is that there was once a normal country which changed beyond recognition in a few years, without the natural resources, which are rather disadvantageous circumstances. -- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.